Ivan London of Mountain States Legal Foundation says even on federal property, ranchers and landowners are the natural “stewards of the land.”
Mountain States Legal Foundation is currently representing several ranchers in United States v. Idaho, a case about who has rights to stock water that livestock can drink on federal land. London says the case is a good analogy for the greater relationship between the federal government and the caretakers of the land.
“Not always perfectly, but the big picture is that the best way to conserve a scarce resource you want to protect is to value its use.”
